The Hall vs. Butler in Thursday's BE Quarterfinal

2018 BIG EAST Championship presented by the Jeep Brand [3] Seton Hall Pirates (21-10, 10-8 BIG EAST) vs. [6] Butler Bulldogs (19-12, 9-9 BIG EAST)
Date/Time/Location	Thursday, March 8 \| 9:30 p.m. \| Madison Square Garden (New York, N.Y.)
Tickets	Ticketmaster.com
Pregame Reception	Pirate Blue Reception at Hudson Station Bar & Grill 6-8 p.m.
Television Broadcast	FS1 \| FOX Sports GO
Radio Broadcast	AM970 The Answer \| Sirius 83 \| XM 83 \| Pirate Sports Network
Game Notes	Seton Hall \| Butler \| Full Seton Hall Postseason Guide
Links	Live Stats \| Twitter \| Facebook \| Instagram \| Bracket

It's Tournament Time.

There's no better place to have a conference tournament than the World's Most Famous Arena, and for the 36th consecutive year, the BIG EAST Championship will emanate from Madison Square Garden.

Seton Hall will challenge for its fourth tournament crown and second in the last three years. Standing in the Pirates' way first is a tough-as-nails Butler squad that has been the victim of a tough schedule, losing five of its last seven games. Despite that, the Bulldogs are as talented as they come and will be a challenge for The Hall on the neutral court.

This is only Seton Hall's second time ever as the BIG EAST Tournament's No. 3 seed. We know what happened the first time.

Thursday's game will be on FS1, the official home of the BIG EAST Tournament, with the iconic tandem of Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery on the call, Lisa Byington serving as sideline reporter and the indestructible Steve Scheer producing. The dynamic duo of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will anchor the radio broadcast on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on Sirius 83, XM 83 and the Pirate Sports Network.

Thanks to @CBBonFOX for having us at the annual shoot! Now it's time to rest up, we've got games to win @TheGarden! #HALLin #BETourney pic.twitter.com/txnRk9rI1O
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) March 5, 2018

The BIG EAST head coaches have spoken. Congrats to @Myles_MBP_23 - he is the 2018 Most Improved Player of the Year! #HALLin pic.twitter.com/NryG6TNKf0
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) March 5, 2018

We still can't get over how awesome Senior Night was! Check out some more footage from the evening. Thank you again to Pirate Nation for supporting! #HALLin pic.twitter.com/tXkLqVZ1al
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) March 5, 2018

THINGS TO KNOW

Seton Hall returns to Madison Square Garden on Thursday night for a BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinal matchup with Butler.
The Pirates clinched the No. 3 seed in the tournament after defeating the Bulldogs in the regular season finale on Saturday, March 3 in Newark. Khadeen Carrington and Angel Delgado combined to score 60 percent of Seton Hall's points as the Pirates came away with a 77-70 victory. Butler was within three with under four minutes to go at 60-57. However, freshman Myles Cale drained a baseline jumper to cool the Bulldogs hot shooting. The Pirates then got a stop on defense, Carrington followed with a layup, and Cale found Mike Nzei underneath for a dunk to go back up by nine. Carrington then punctuated the game with his final triple of the night with 1:03 to go to seal the win.
The current group of seniors is 8-3 at MSG, and over the last four seasons at The Garden, the Pirates have four wins over ranked opponents including a 2016 BIG EAST title:
- 3/11/16 - W, 87-83 vs. #5 Xavier
- 3/12/16 - W, 69-67 vs. #3 Villanova
- 12/12/16 - W, 67-64 vs. #16 S. Carolina
- 11/30-17 - W, 89-79 vs. #22 Texas Tech
The Hall is competing in its 63rd BIG EAST Tournament game and has an all-time record of 29-34 (.460). It is the first three seed for the Pirates since the 2015-16 season when Seton Hall took home its first BIG EAST Tournament title since 1993 with a 69-67 victory over Villanova in the championship game.
The Pirates and Bulldogs meet on Thursday for the 12th time in the all-time
series and second time in a week. Butler holds a 7-4 lead, but the Pirates have won the last three meetings, including two at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
On Jan. 6, Seton Hall overcame a double-digit, second-half deficit to stun Butler on its home court, on the strength of 29 points from Carrington and a career-high 28 points from Delgado. Carrington made a critical layup to take an 84-82 lead with 1:08 to play, and Myles Powell made four free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
The Pirates won the only matchup with Butler in the BIG EAST Tournament, a 51-50 first-round victory on March 12, 2014.
On Sunday, Desi Rodriguez and Delgado were named to the 2018 All-BIG EAST Second Team, and Powell was named the 2018 BIG EAST Most Improved Player.
Carrington earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 24.0 points, 5.5 boards and 4.5 assists against Villanova and Butler last week.

» The Pirates have notched several key wins that will loom large on Selection Sunday, including 14 victories over 10 teams currently in the KenPom Top-100:

» Indiana - 76 (W, 84-68)

» Vanderbilt - 86 (W, 72-59)

» Texas Tech - 10 (W, 89-79)

» Louisville - 34 (W, 79-77)

» Creighton - 27 (W, 90-84)

» St. John's - 72 (W, 75-70 / W, 81-74 OT)

» Butler - 24 (W, 90-87 / W, 77-70)

» Georgetown - 95 (W, 74-61)

» DePaul - 98 (W, 86-70 / W, 82-77)

» Providence - 71 (W, 73-57 / W, 89-77)

The Hall is competing in its 63rd BIG EAST Tournament game and has an all-time record of

29-34 (.460). It is the first three seed for the Pirates since the 2015-16 BIG EAST Tournament Championship run in which Seton Hall defeated six-seeded Creighton, two-seeded Xavier, and top-seeded Villanova to capture the third title in program history. The Hall is 17-8 as the higher seed, 3-0 as a No. 3 seed, and 10-11 all-time in quarterfinal games including wins in each of the last three. Additionally, the Pirates won their only matchup with Butler in the conference tournament, a 51-50 first-round victory on March 12, 2014.

With its win at St. John's, Seton Hall won its 20th game of the season, the third straight year it has reached 20 and the fourth time under head coach Kevin Willard. Only twice before in program history has Seton Hall had three consecutive 20-win seasons: 1951-53 under head coach Honey Russell and 1991-93 under head coach P.J. Carlesimo.

Willard's four 20-win seasons are the third-most in Seton Hall history behind P.J. Carlesimo and Honey Russell, who each have five.

Seton Hall has finished with at least a .500 BIG EAST record for the third consecutive year. The program has accomplished this feat only one other time since the start of the conference: 1991-93.

Three times in Seton Hall's BIG EAST history have the Pirates ended their regular season and opened their conference tournament with the same opponent.

1988: Lost at Georgetown in regular season finale (98-102, OT) and defeated Georgetown in the BIG EAST quarterfinals six days later (61-58).

2010: Won at Providence in regular season finale (92-80) and defeated Providence in the BIG EAST first round three days later (109-106).

2014: Lost at Butler in regular season finale (54-71) and defeated Butler in the BIG EAST first round for days later (51-50).

The Hall has enjoyed playing at its "home away from home" - Madison Square Garden over the past few seasons.

The current group of seniors is 8-3 at MSG

Over the last five seasons at The Garden, the Pirates are 10-4 and have five wins over ranked opponents including a 2016 BIG EAST title:

» 03/12/14 - W, 51-50 vs. Butler

» 03/13/14 - W, 64-63 vs. #3 Villanova

» 03/14/14 - L, 74-80 vs. Providence

» 03/11/15 - L, 56-78 vs. Marquette

» 02/21/16 - W, 62-61 vs. St. John's

» 03/10/16 - W, 81-73 vs. Creighton

» 03/11/16 - W, 87-83 vs. #5 Xavier

» 03/12/16 - W, 69-67 vs. #3 Villanova

» 12/12/16 - W, 67-64 vs. #16 S. Carolina

» 02/11/17 - L, 70-78 vs. St. John's

» 03/09/17 - W, 82-76 vs. Marquette

» 03/10/17 - L, 52-55 vs. #2 Villanova

» 11/30/17 - W, 89-79 vs. #22 Texas Tech

» 02/24/18 - W, 81-74 OT vs. St. John's

In last year's BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal at The Garden, Delgado nearly earned himself a triple-double, racking up 12 points, 16 rebs and nine assists in a win over Marquette.

In the Under Armour reunion game this season on Nov. 30 against Texas Tech was one to remember. A late 20-9 run sparked by the play of Myles Powell led the Pirates to victory. Cheese finished with 19 points, hit a pair of dagger triples in the final minutes, and came up with a steal and fastbreak layup plus a foul with 1:20 remaining to stave off a Red Raider comeback attempt.

Seton Hall made it 2-0 at The Garden this year with an 81-74 overtime win against St. John's. In the extra period, Delgado opened the scoring with back-to-back buckets, and the Pirates defense held St. John's without a field goal (0-for-7) over the final 4:20 to come away with the win.

The Pirates ended the regular season receiving votes in the Associated Press Top-25 and USA Today Coaches Poll.

Earlier this season Seton Hall was No. 13 in the rankings, the highest since Jan. 2, 2001.

Seton Hall has been in the weekly national rankings 111 times in program history, and 11 times this season.

Seton Hall is 37-14 all-time and 10-1 this season when Carrington connects on two or more three-pointers.

In the two previous meetings with Butler this season, Deeno averaged 27.0 points and 4.0 assists while shooting 50 percent (15-for-30) overall and 71.4 percent (10-for-14) from three.

Between just Rodriguez, Carrington and Delgado, the Pirates have an incredible trio of experienced scorers - the three have a combined 4,941 career points.

All three are Top-20 all-time scorers in the history of the program, with Carrington leading the trio (10th), followed by Rodriguez (14th) and Delgado (18th).

No other class in program history has more than one player on the Top-20 all-time scoring list.

Desi Rodriguez has been the most consistent offensive contributor and elite all season.

He is averaging a team-best 18.1 points per game, good for eighth in the BIG EAST. He is shooting 50.4 percent (191-for-379) from the field and 38.0 percent (52-for-137) from long range.

The Pirates are 11-3 this season when Rodriguez is the team's leading scorer, and 35-14 all-time when he scores at least 15 points.

Ismael Sanogo is one of the most well-rounded players in the BIG EAST, and although not all of his skills are reflected in the statistics, he does an outstanding job of checking the boxes.

He has had seven games this season with at least one point, rebound, block, assist and steal.

The Pirates are 32-5 over the last 37 games and 17-3 this season with they have more free-throw attempts than their opponent.

Carrington played a critical role in securing a pair of invaluable BIG EAST road wins at Providence (Feb. 21) and St. John's (Feb. 24). He averaged 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and shot 51.7 percent from the field and 14-for-15 (93.3 percent) from the free throw line.

» at Providence - 25 pts, 8-of-13 FG, 8-of-8 FT

» at St. John's - 22 pts, 7-of-16 FG, 6-of-7 FT, 6 reb, 4 ast

He was named the Met Writers Player of the Week and the BIG EAST Player of the Week for the second time in his career on Feb. 26; he also received the honors on Feb. 20, 2017. It is the second time this year that a Pirate has won the league's top weekly award (Desi Rodriguez, Dec. 4, 2017).

Over Carrington's last four games, he is averaging 23.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 91.2 percent from the free throw line.

Angel Delgado had already cemented his name in the BIG EAST record book entering the season. But at DePaul on Jan. 28, with his second rebound, BIG EAST career rebound No. 702, he broke Syracuse's Derrick Coleman's (1986-90) all-time BIG EAST career rebound record that had stood for 28 years.

The big man is also second on the BIG EAST's all-time rebounding average list (11.50) behind only Michael Smith (Providence, 1991-94, 11.66 rpg).

Delgado has now won the BIG EAST's rebounding championship for the third time, tying him with Michael Smith of Providence, who won three from 1992-94, for most ever in conference history.

In the two meetings with Butler this season, Delgado averaged 24.5 points and 12.5 boards while shooting 69.2 percent (18-for-26).

A total of five different Pirates have recorded five assists or more in a single game this season (Carrington, Delgado, Powell, Rodriguez, Walker).

Seton Hall has finished with an even or positive assist-to-turnover ratio in 25 of 31 games.

Delgado's ability to rebound on both ends of the floor has earned him national attention.

He was named a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, as well as the Senior CLASS Award.

Delgado's 3.9 offensive boards per game so far this season is good for eighth in the country. Overall, Delgado's 11.6 rebounds per game are also fourth-best in the nation.

Against Vanderbilt earlier this season, Delgado was held without an offensive rebound, snapping a streak of 71 games with one or more offensive boards.

He has grabbed one or more offensive rebounds in 126 of 129 career games and 96 of the last 97.

Delgado leads the BIG EAST in offensive, defensive, and total rebounding.

Myles Powell, AKA "Cheese", has had a tremendous sophomore campaign, and on Sunday, Powell was named the 2018 BIG EAST Most Improved Player. His scoring this year has increased by 137 percent, his assists have increased by 300 percent, and he is shooting five percent better from the field. He is the second Pirate ever to receive the award (Shaheen Holloway, 2000).

He scored a career-high 30 points against Xavier on Feb. 14 on 10-of-20 shooting from the floor.

Against Georgetown on Jan. 13, Cheese filled the box score with a game-high 19 points, five rebounds, and a career-high six steals.

Cheese has scored in double-figures in 28 of 31 games this year.

He is already 12th all-time in school history with 154 career three-point field goals.

His 86 made threes so far are the seventh-most in a single season in program history.

Seton Hall has shown the ability to score in chunks and put together stretches of efficient and dangerous offense.

So far this season, the Pirates have scored 80 or more points 16 times, the most in a season since the 2009-10 squad had 17.

Seton Hall is 13-3 this season when scoring 80 or more points.

Angel Delgado is 18th on the NCAA all-time leaderboard for career double-doubles (71).

With his 69th career double-dip, against Providence, he passed some big names - Larry Bird (Indiana State), David West (Xavier) and Paul Millsap (Louisiana Tech).

» Tom Gola, La Salle - 96

» Tim Duncan, Wake Forest - 87

» Kenneth Faried, Morehead State - 86

» Ralph Sampson, Virginia - 84

» Derrick Coleman, Syracuse - 83

» Lionel Simmons, La Salle - 83

» Malik Rose, Drexel - 80

» Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati - 79

» Michael Brooks, La Salle - 79

» Jerry Lucas, Ohio State - 78

» Mel Counts, Oregon State - 78

» Lew Alcindor, UCLA - 78

» Shawn Long, Louisiana-Lafayette - 75

» Keith Lee, Memphis - 74

» David Robinson, Navy - 74

» Don May, Dayton - 72

» Bill Walton, UCLA - 72

» Paul Silas, Creighton - 71

» Gary Winton, Army - 71

» Angel Delgado, Seton Hall – 71

Angel Delgado has made his way into the NCAA Division I record book for career rebounds. Since the NCAA's creation of the Division I, II & III model in 1973, he has the 10th-most career boards (1,414). Only nine others have Amassed 1,400 or more rebounds since 1973.Kenneth Faried, Morehead State ('11) - 1,673

» Tim Duncan, Wake Forest ('97) - 1,570

» Derrick Coleman, Syracuse ('90) - 1,537

» Malik Rose, Drexel ('96) - 1,514

» Ralph Sampson, Virginia ('83) - 1,511

» Pete Padgett, Nevada ('76) - 1,464

» Shawn Long, UL Lafayette ('16) - 1,447

» Lionel Simmons, La Salle ('90) - 1,429

» Anthony Bonner, Saint Louis ('90) - 1,424

» Angel Delgado, Seton Hall (present) - 1,414